Lando Norris showed formidable pace to lead first practice at the Dutch Grand Prix in the first on-track session after the 2025 Formula 1 summer break as Max Verstappen beached his Red Bull in a bizarre incident after the chequered flag.
Home favourite Verstappen carried out a practice start and then ran far too deep into Tarzan - the long, right-hand first corner - piling into the gravel trap before declaring "I'm stuck" to his team and being instructed to switch his Red Bull off.
Something you don't see very often...
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 29, 2025
Verstappen almost hits the barriers at Turn 1 after doing a practice start at the end of the session #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/dvrFNnthiw
The session had already been a subdued one for Red Bull before that; Verstappen was fastest early on but ended up sixth in the headline times, nearly a second off the pace, while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda - running the same car specification as Verstappen this weekend - had multiple trips through the gravel and was 16th, another nine tenths further back.
By contrast, the session was a serene one for Norris and McLaren.
Norris trails his team-mate Oscar Piastri by nine points in the F1 drivers' championship but went on a run of three grand prix wins in four races before the summer break, and laid down an impressive marker as the season resumed by going almost three tenths faster than Piastri.
His 1m10.278s was more than two seconds faster than the time he set to lead the corresponding session at Zandvoort one year ago.
And his advantage over Piastri had been even greater - 0.422s - until Piastri went for a second run later in the session, albeit on the same set of soft tyres he had used for his first attempt.
With McLaren's regular closest challengers - Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari - all some way off the pace, the door was opened for two midfield teams to break into the top five in FP1.
Aston Martin had the fourth-fastest car on merit at the most recent round at the Hungaroring and it started the Dutch GP weekend as McLaren's nearest challenger, with Lance Stroll half a second off Norris's benchmark and 0.062s ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso.
Stroll's time was set inside the final 10 minutes of the session but he might have been faster still, as he aborted his first lap on a used set of softs when he caught Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull at the end of the first sector.
Alex Albon was more than three tenths behind Alonso but his time was good enough for fifth, with Williams team-mate Carlos Sainz backing him up in eighth.
Verstappen was at least faster than George Russell - his main rival in what looks set to be a battle for third in the drivers' championship - who ended the session seventh and 1.140s off the pace.
George locks up at the entry to Tarzan and runs off into the gravel #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/yA27XKr9Ts
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 29, 2025
Russell, who had a trip of his own through the gravel trap at Tarzan after misjudging his braking, was the only Mercedes driver on track for the majority of the session as team-mate Kimi Antonelli beached his car at the Marlboro right-hander barely 10 minutes into the session and brought out the red flag.
Antonelli: "I'm stuck in the gravel"
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 29, 2025
And we have our first red flag of the weekend🚩#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/Gn0jl1P0YM
The Ferraris fared hardly any better, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both almost 1.7s off the pace and consigned to 14th and 15th.
Leclerc suggested to his team that "my opinion is that we should focus on what we are doing now" - in reference to Ferrari's specific run-plan - because "we are miles off; miles off".
He was nine thousandths faster than Hamilton, who spun through the Turns 2-3 kink, rotating 360 degrees before reaching the banked Hugenholtz corner, a few minutes before Tsunoda's first off through the Audi S and Antonelli's red-flag inducing spin.
Practice results
1) Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m10.278s
2) Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.292s
3) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.501s
4) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.563s
5) Alex Albon (Williams) +0.893s
6) Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.940s
7) George Russell (Mercedes) +1.108s
8) Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.180s
9) Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +1.231s
10) Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.335s
11) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.475s
12) Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1.494s
13) Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +1.597s
14) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +1.673s
15) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.682s
16) Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +1.848s
17) Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.866s
18) Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.998s
19) Ollie Bearman (Haas) +2.286s
20) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +3.997s
